Question of the Day

Did illegal voters swing any congressional races?

Books

 "Dollars & Sense for Kids," by Janet Bodnar. Kiplinger Books, 1999. Written by the mother of three children, this book covers money topics from preschool to the teen years and offers practical and creative advice for teaching children financial basics.

 "Growing Money: A Complete Investing Guide for Kids," by Gail Karlitz and Debbie Honig, Price, Stern, Sloan Pub., 1999. This book explains the basics of money and teaches the value of compound interest and investing at a young age.

Associations

 American Savings Education Council, Suite 600, 2121 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20037. Phone: 202/659-0760. Web sites: www.asec.org and www.choosetosave.org. This nonprofit organization, founded in 1995, is a coalition of private- and public-sector institutions whose goal is to increase public awareness about long-term personal financial independence. Its Web sites include financial calculators that show the value of long-term investing and compound interest.

 JumpStart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, 919 18th St. NW, Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20006. Phone: 202/466-8610. Web site: www.jumpstartcoalition.org. This nonprofit organization, founded in 1997, is a coalition of private- and public-sector institutions. The coalition's goal is to ensure that students are financially competent before graduation from high school. The information on the Web site is searchable by grade level.

On line

]m Familymoney.com, created by the makers of Better Homes and Garden magazine, has a Web site (www.familymoney.com) that includes a section on "Kids and Money." The section is broken

down by age group.

 Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine's Web site (www.kiplinger.com) contains valuable information on all aspects of personal finances, including calculators that show how money grows over time through the use of compound interest.

 PocketCard Inc., a financial services company based in Gurnee, Ill., has a Web site (www.pocketcard.com) that describes how its PocketCards work. PocketCards are prepaid Visa-branded cards that allow parents to provide a debit card for their teen. It can be used wherever Visa is accepted. Parents can transfer money on line or by phone. The service also offers instant messaging that allows parents to see how teens are spending their money. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is privately held.

 The Treasury Department's Web site (www.irs.ustreas.gov/taxi) includes a special section called TAXinteractive, which is a joint educational venture between the American Bar Association and the Internal Revenue Service. This site is designed to educate teen-agers about the tax system, the effects of taxes on their daily lives and electronic ways to file taxes.